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So, it has come to this.

Five years ago BioWare released Mass Effect to the world. The first game in an epic RPG trilogy with the ambitious goal of having your character’s actions and accompanying consequences carry over from game to game;  creating an ever more complex and living world quite literally shaped by the player. As a result, Mass Effect 3 is forced to undergo scrutiny for not only how it handles as a standalone game, but as a conclusion to BioWare’s half-decade efforts as well. 

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A collaboration title and release date also announced.

This morning, Nintendo had its Nintendo Direct video presentation and several announcements were made. Top among them was the announcement that The Last Story, one of the titles targeted by the Operation Rainfall movement, will be coming to North America this year courtesy of XSEED Games.  The Last Story is the latest, and perhaps last, RPG developed by Mistwalker head and creator of the Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi. 

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Both English and Japanese voiceovers available as well.

We can now narrow down the North American release window for Level-5’s Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.  Namco Bandai revealed that they have moved from the vague release window of 2012 to the slightly less vague release window of winter 2012.  Assuming the publisher isn’t referring to the winter we currently find ourselves in, this means that we’ll likely see the Studio Ghibli collaborated RPG come stateside at the end of the year.

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Final Fantasy takes a journey into the future of the franchise, but hits some potholes on the way.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 had a lot to make up for, being the follow-up to one of the most divisive games in the beloved RPG series. For a franchise that was built on every iteration being wildly different from the last, Final Fantasy XIII perhaps changed a little bit too much in removing many of the core elements that the series—and JRPGs in general—are known for. While that game took over 5 years to develop and was met with confusion and in some cases rage, Final Fantasy XIII-2 is a game that went from announcement to release in about a year. Is it possible that a game so rushed could hope to right the perceived wrongs of its predecessor? The short answer is “yes”, but there’s a pretty big “but…” to go along with it.

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It's all about the co-op, baby!

Remember couch co-op? There was something special about having a buddy over, ordering a pizza, and flopping on the couch to marathon through a great game. That intimate kind of cooperative game play has kind of fallen by the wayside in recent years, thanks to the proliferation of stable online matchmaking. As remarkable an achievement as that is, nothing will replace the fun and energy of having a partner sitting right next to you as you triumph over a challenging game. The folks over at Obsidian haven’t forgotten about couch co-op; it’s the focal point for Dungeon Siege III, a game that is at its best when shared.

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